Frank writes...
Sunday was warm and sunny, so my first job for the day was testing the 18's air compressor. The car's compressor has had the habit of flashing over, but only when it's cold out - as long as it's above 50 degrees, give or take, it seems to do okay. The last time we tried it, back in December, the compressor had been left cold for a while and sure enough, it flashed over. We meggered it and inspected it, and there was no obvious damage, but there's only one way to know for sure.
Fortunately, we're in luck! With a new fuse, the pump started and ran like a charm. We took the car around the streetcar line just to check everything out - including the new Eclipse fender and new whistle - and there didn't seem to be any issues. Many thanks to Nick and Jimmy for their help with operations and switching. With luck, we will be able to bring the 18 out on Sunday of Trolley Weekend in a few weeks. Mark your calendar!
After dinner, I put some more orange paint on car 63. This time it was brush painting around the edges on the center doors. This is pretty slow work, so I only had enough time to do the center doors, but I'll get to the front doors next, and then after that I'll do the larger flat areas with a trim roller. It's coming along.
In other news, what's going on in Barn 6? No, we aren't running a Christmas in June event - this is a test setup for some additional Christmas light displays being considered for Happy Holiday Railway in December. Stay tuned...
The shop regulars were working on a few different things, including running fiber optic cable in the substation. Over in the bus department, they switched out one of the "tracks" in the Hoffman Garage. Here we see the ConnCo bus we acquired nine years ago from MoT on the left, with the Chicago RTA bus on the right. The ConnCo bus has had its left side repainted and you can see some fresh silver paint on the roof. Both of these buses were towed out; the RTA bus runs but is in the midst of some work.
This thing did run itself out under power - our CSL White 798 was the first bus IRM acquired for historic preservation, I believe, as opposed to the raft of Milwaukee buses we acquired back in the 1960s just because they were there (and also as spare engines for the old generator shed).
This bus is in excellent cosmetic shape on the outside and is reasonably nice on the inside, but needs some mechanical work.
And then there was rarely seen Milwaukee 269, a rare St. Louis Car Company-built trolley bus. I'm tempted to say that there are only four SLCC trolley buses preserved, and of them this is the oldest and also the only one of this body style [EDIT: that’s not quite right - check out the comments].
8 comments:
Congratulations on a job well done. #18 is a true piece of history brought back to life with expertise, hard work, and dedication. I've enjoyed your cataloging of the restoration progress.
With all that is being worked on, what is most likely to be completed next?
Best to you and your family.
Pete
Never heard anything about this "Generator Shed" before, is there any documentation on it?
The generator was used from 1966-1970 before the rectifier substation was built. See Rail & Wire issue 35, page 7; issue 41, pages 2-3; issue 42, page 4; issue 46, page 2; issue 56, pages 1-2; issue 60, page 8. The garage itself was from Milwaukee, sort of a kit structure, and is described in issue 11, page 2, and issue 13, page 2. You can see it in pictures from that time period, where station track 2 is now, about where the locomotive pulls up to with a train.
R. W. Schauer
Hi Pete, thanks for the kind words! I hope you and your family are doing well, too. That's a good question about what will be done next. In terms of major projects that are underway, Tim Peters is making his usual rapid progress on Chicago Rapid Transit 1808. That may be the next "full restoration" to be outshopped by the Electric Car Department.
As for the 18 itself, there's a long way to go before it's more-or-less fully restored, including a lot of work refinishing interior woodwork. But we'll continue to pick away at it.
I believe those Milwaukee buses came to the Museum primarily as transportation for all the parts we got out of the Cold Spring storehouse in the early 70s.
San Francisco Muni also owns a trolley coach built by the St. Louis Car Company back in 1941 but it seems to be a smaller model than Milwaukee 269. The body of the Muni bus 506 has been fully restored but it is not yet operational.
https://www.streetcar.org/sfmsr-buses/st-louis-car-company-trolley-coach/
Tony- Your #506 was built in 1939 but didn't go into service until 1941. The final part of the order on which Milwaukee 269 was built was the only trolley bus work that SLCC had during 1941. There are two other SLCC trolley buses preserved, and at least two more yet that exist (or recently existed) in a state of decrepitude. Seashore has a Cleveland post-war coach, and one of the unique Atlanta post-war order is cosmetically restored at Duluth GA. All of these except 269 have had their propulsion and controls gutted; 269 is complete and operable.
R. W. Schauer
Thank you for your response R.W. Schauer which clears up misunderstanding I had.
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